Sears Craftsman Professional 10" Table Saw Qs

[Chet]

OWW,
I've owned 2 Craftsman, I will admit neither was the saw you are referring too. But having said that, there is no way I would trade my Griz 1023 for any saw Sears sells.

[fstedy]

  I have a Craftsman 12" contractors saw for 35 years runs on 220v cuts anything its fed with a good blade. It has the direct drive motor think its rated 3 1/2 hp. Knock on wood no problems yet.

[Quartlow]

Theres a big differance between old craftsman, and new crapsman. The old stuff was built to last. Given my last experiance with Sears over routers I won't buy a corded tool from them ever again.

That being said blaes make all the differance in the world, Freud and CMT are the two best bangs for the buck in my book, In freud buy the LU series or the LM series. Depending on where you buy them pricing is pretty close. I can buy CMT's cheaper here than freuds, so thats the way I've been going. Long term you will have less blade troubles with the full kerf blades. They stay sharp longer and theres les chance of blade warpage. On my 3HP uni I can't feed it fast enough  to bog it down, at least not safely.

On the 1.5 HP Rigid saw I had before this I could bog it down with a full kerf blade, but I could bog it with a thin kerf if I wanted to. It was definatly slower going and it was no where near as smooth as my Unisaw.

I have no experiance with the Grizz saw, but everyone that I've come in contact with thats bough teat has been pleased with it. If I needed a new saw Grizzly would get some serious consideration

[bitternut]

         I have not had to adjust a thing on it since I set it up initially about 12 years ago.   

Gee Tom............no wonder all my boards come out the same width.

[GF]

I bought one lat year just like you are talking about, not to impressed with the power of the motor, it seems to stall fairly easy, even compared to the 10" Craftsmen table saw I bought 18 yrs ago.  It will cut 4/4 pretty good get into 2 1/2" material its slow.  Just my 2 cents worth.  I do like the Biesemeyer fence on the unit, just wish the motor was larger, or they had an option to purchase it with a larger motor.

[Engineer]

Can't comment on the Sears stuff, my newest Sears power tool is from 1947 or so.     I also have a 10" Sears table saw from 1938.  I do know that I wouldn't touch the new Sears stuff, or anything newer than about 1960, with a ten foot pole.   I don't have a problem with foreign made, necessarily, but Sears is well know for proprietary stuff and false claims of performance.  If Sears says it has a 3 horse motor, it's probably a 3/4 horse or 1 horse "true" power.    Have to measure amps and not take their claim at face value.

Let's see, if I had to buy a new table saw.     Probably be looking at a General 350 or 650, or a Powermatic 66, or maybe even a Unisaw.   Budget limited, I'd be investigating Grizzly or Shop Fox.    I have nothing against any of these manufacturers I listed, I have tools from Delta, Powermatic, Grizzly and Shop Fox right now.  I just got a brand new Grizzly 8" jointer and it is a very, very nice piece of machinery.  A little difficult to assemble, but fit and finish are excellent.  My table saws, besides the Sears one, are Unisaws from 1964 and 1997 so I'm somewhat partial to Delta (at least, the older stuff).

Might be worth your while to dig through eBay, craigslist.org, and local classifieds to find a used PM 66, Unisaw or even an older Boice-Crane or Walker-Turner cabinet saw that's in good shape.

[D._Frederick]

I bought a used craftsman 10 inch RAS that was made about early eighties, I soon found out that none of the swivel setting were correct, if you swivelled  the saw head 90 degrees, you had to get out the square and adjust it for that setting.

This was the first and last time I bought any power equipment that has the craftsman name on it. I bought a Delta 12 RAS that I use on anything to do with angles. It set-up is quick and its 1 1/2 hp motor cut thru 4 inch stock.

[OneWithWood]

Such great comments from everyone.  Thanks again.
I did a bunch of research on the Craftsman saw.  I really like the Biesemeyer fence and the saw seems to be well made - I just could not get past the small motor.  I even went to the store and droooled all over the display model.  I thought maybe I could upgrade the motor but the more I looked the more that little voice in my head said "if you buy this thing and it does not perform the way you need it to perform, you are going to be one very unhappy boy".  I thought about it all night.  I had visions of picking it up this afternoon on my way home from work.

But then I realized that even though I only work at the wood thing part-time, the time needs to be spent as efficiently as possible and I need a saw that will get 'er done.

I am going to order a Grizzly G1023SLW.  In fact while I am at it I think I will order a G0490 Jointer to keep it company   .

I pick up the Woodmaster 718 and 5hp blower at the freight terminal on the 17th.

The barn and kiln are very nearly done.  Just have to make the doors, hang the lights, install the cart rails for the kiln and I should be out of excuses 

Larry and Pigman, I feel your pain 

I will sleep good tonight.

[fstedy]

OWW
Excellent choice Grizzly makes great tools for the money. I think you bought a much better machine than the Craftsman. Enjoy it it makes SAWDUST.

[GF]

Just my 2 cents worth I have that saw you were looking at, I have to say it has a nice fence, and the hood of it looks good but it does lack horsepower under the hood.  I think you made the correct decision. 

[Den Socling]

OWW,

That's a nice saw! I bet you will like it but, if you never bought anything like it from Grizzly, prepare for 'some assembly required'. Everything goes together easily enough but you won't believe how many pieces you have when you open the package.  It IS build your own saw.   

Den

[OneWithWood]

Hey Den, it seems everything I buy has some 'assembly required'.  Good thing I enjoy a good puzzle 

There is a silver lining to the assembly phase - I definately will understand how it went together and troubleshooting gets just that much easier.

[shopteacher]

As for myself I'd rather buy a used, good condition Powermatic 66, Delta unisaw, or General table saw than a Sears or any of the imports.  I've owned a couple Grizzly machines and have one at school and really have no complaints.  I never quite figured out what "for the money" meant.  I take it that a person would be satisfied with an inferor machine because it cost less.  I on the other hand I would rather buy a slightly used superior machine or wait till I had the cash to buy what I really wanted.  I now have a 92 woodmizer LT40HD and plan to up grade to probably a newer model and maybe someday be able to ge a new one, but at least I got what I wanted and I've been very happy with the machine and it's performance.  Just my cent and a half worth.